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Good executed! You possess gained into college or university for reading background, about the most useful themes on offer. 1 justification it is extremely exciting is always you will discover a evident progression among the challenges for a grade around the conditions of an college degree. Continue reading →

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A money date may sound like the nerdiest, least romantic thing you could possibly do for Valentine’s Day. But money is involved in almost all of the choices we make in life, so even if it’s a little geeky, such a discussion can be a great way to achieve more of your goals with your partner, transforming money from a source of stress to a powerful tool.

Your financial life is like a business you manage with your spouse or significant other. You may take on debts to finance an opportunity, have goals you want to achieve, and complete daily responsibilities. Yet few couples review their financial statements as a business owner does.

If cash were sitting on the sidelines while a huge debt loomed over a company, or a CEO didn’t have a plan for future growth and investment, shareholders would not be happy. But you and your partner are both the shareholders and executives of your life together. You have complete freedom to set and achieve your goals.

A check-in to define those goals and regularly take stock of your progress is a valuable tool to make sure you are on track. Whether you call it a “money meeting” or a “money date,” here are a few helpful tips to help it run smoothly.

Agree on joint goals and write them down.

Give a set period of time (perhaps three or four minutes) for each of you to write down your goals. Don’t talk or allow any other interruptions. Then categorize your individual goals as follows:

Short-term (under a year), such as vacations, medical expenses and gifts

Medium-term (1 to 5 years), such as car purchases and paying off debts

Long-term (5+ years), such as creating and preserving wealth together

When the time is up, compare and discuss your individual goals to create a shared goals list. Some may be very important to your partner, even if they are less of a priority to you. With the final list, develop a plan to achieve the goals. You should plan to reach short-term goals and most medium-term goals by saving. Goals with a long time horizon can be reached with an investment strategy.

Keep (some) emotions out of it.

This is not the time to place blame or stir up old arguments, but a certain amount of emotion can be motivating. What are you passionate about, and to what lengths will you go to make sure certain things happen? Use your passion and strive to improve in the future as opposed to focusing on the past.

Agree on a plan and individual responsibilities.

What are you going to do to make your goals happen? What is the highest priority, and how much money should be allocated to various goals? Set deadlines for yourself, and decide who is going to take certain actions.

And remember, a goal without a deadline is merely a wish.

Automate as many steps as possible.

Make the right decision easy and the wrong decision hard. For example, you can overcome the natural tendency to spend now rather than save for later by using automatic bill pay and automated savings online. If you have to move money from account to account to buy something that is not in your plan, that may be enough of a barrier to make you think twice.

Meet periodically.

Keep yourselves accountable by meeting periodically to review how your spending and saving match up to your written plan. If you aren’t quite on track yet, how can you make the process easier? The time period for your check-ins should line up with your goals; for example, you could meet to review short-term problems such as overspending monthly or quarterly and review your investment strategy and planning for big-ticket items once a year.

Key questions to ask in a money meeting:

How does our spending compare with our plan?

Can we find additional savings, such as shopping around for insurance or cable-Internet-phone packages?

Are we saving enough to achieve our goals?

Were there any unexpected setbacks since our last meeting, and how can we catch up?

Which tools or professional advice will help us achieve our goals?

The bottom line

If you have a good process, you will find that being a good steward of your money becomes a habit, and you will meet your financial goals more easily. May your next money meeting help you get closer to the one you love and to meeting your shared goals together!

Ted Halpern is the president of Halpern Financial in Maryland and Virginia.

More money. $3.6 billion to be exact. That is the amount of additional tax revenue Gov. Wolf wants from you to fund his tax and spend budget. To that I ask, “How dare he?”

Although his budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Feb. 9 was lacking specifics of his 2016-2017 budget proposal, the reality is that Gov. Wolf is continuing the tax and spend theme presented last year.

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Ernst Publishing Company, a technology provider and closing cost data for the real estate and home finance industries announced recently Mike Fletcher joined the company as its director of strategic accounts.

Fletchers new role includes focusing specifically on solutions for large lenders including the addition of new partners and strategic alliances.

Repco Home Finances (RHF) Q3FY16 PAT of INR386mn (up 26% YoY) was higher than our estimate on controlled opex and lower provisions (drop in coverage ratio). Business momentum continued to be on track with disbursements moving up gt;25% YoY to INR6bn and loan book spurting 30% to INR71.3bn a reflection of its niche positioning both in customer segments and geography. GNPLs inched up to INR1.6bn (2.3% versus 1.8% in Q2FY16), more of a seasonal trend, though the rise seems to be on the higher side due to the Chennai floods. Niche positioning underpinned by sufficient CRAR of ~24% will sustain RHFs loan CAGR of ~27% and help it post impressive ~25% earnings CAGR (despite DTL) over FY16-18E, with 2.2% RoA and 19% RoE. We roll forward to FY18E and maintain lsquo;BUY with TP of INR790.

RHF operates in a niche segment, which is under-served by banks and larger housing finance companies (HFCs). In this backdrop, we expect the company to be key beneficiary of growth opportunities in the mortgage finance sector, particularly in nonsalaried segment and tier II/III locations. The stock is trading at 3x FY18E P/ABV and 16x FY18E P/E. We retain lsquo;BUY/SO with TP of INR790.

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Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Two Monsanto executives returned their lavish bonuses, amounting to nearly $4 million, after the agribusiness giant agreed to pay federal regulators $80 million as part of a settlement over accounting violations.

When you first start a formal job, nothing beats the feeling of having your salary in your bank account and imagining all the things that you can spend it on. It is easy to live in the moment because the future seems very far away. But it is absolutely vital to start planning from the very beginning.

You may think you want to wait until you are earning more money to start saving, but as you get older, you will have to take on more expenses. If you do not get into the habit of saving and investing towards a sound and stable financial future from the very beginning, you will find it very difficult to do so later.

To take control of your finances, you need to think of the kind of lifestyle you want to lead now, and how you will maintain that lifestyle in the years to come. Work out your short-term (one year), medium-term (three to five years) and long-term (retirement) goals, and then give careful thought to what you need to do now to achieve all of these.

Think about your luxury items and entertainment expenses and work out which of those you really need.

It is important to have fun now, but it is also important to make sure that you can afford your lifestyle. You should still have dinners and go out with friends, but consider whether you really need additional luxuries like designer clothes that you will only wear a couple of times.

Then write out a budget that takes all these expenses into account, making sure you think of all possible expenses, from the insignificant daily takeaway coffee to the whopping car repairs you have to afford twice a year.

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